It is now certain that one of Korean Air‘s fleet of ten Airbus A380s will never fly again. Photos on Instagram show that the massive passenger jet is being dismantled and recycled. This is not the end of Korean Air’s Airbus A380 fleet as they still have a number (perhaps four) of A380-800s in service, but it is, indeed, the beginning of the end.
Now over 70 years old, Korean Air has grown to be one of the largest airlines in the world – but it will soon be without the largest aircraft. It may be difficult to see the massive and iconic Airbus 380s going to the scrapyard already, but as Master Yoda once said “Death is a natural part of life… Mourn them do not. Miss them do not.”
Pictures on social media have emerged showing a Korean Air A380 being broken up and scrapped. The aircraft had already been sawn in two, and the entire tail section had been removed. The Airbus A380 was seen being dismantled next to an Asiana Airlines hangar (Korean Air is acquiring its former rival).
The Airbus A380 in question has the registration number HL7613 and was manufactured by Airbus in 2011. This means the aircraft is only a little over 13 years old (not that old for a commercial aircraft). The aircraft was equipped with GP7270 engines that had been supplied by Engine Alliance.
This Korean Air A380 was one of the many aircraft that fell prey to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was withdrawn from service in March 2020 as the pandemic bit hard and shut much of the world down. Since then, the aircraft has been parked and stored at Incheon Airport in Seoul.
Out of the five longest Airbus A380 routes, four are operated by Emirates out of Dubai International Airport (DXB).
With Korean Air set to merge with Asiana Airlines, the group is destined to have the second-largest fleet of A380s in the world (at least if it doesn’t scrap too many of them first). In February, Korean Air had six A380s, four in service and another six parked. But no more.
Korean Air is still operating part of its Airbus A380 fleet. Airbus’s fleet is made up of Boeing 787 (-9s), 777 (-200ERs, -300s, 300ERs), 747 (-8is), 737 (-8s, -800s -900, -900ERs) and Airbus A380 (-800s), A330 (-200s, -300s), A321 (-neos), and A220 (-300s). In May 2024, it was reported these four A380s remain active and are only used to fly between Seoul and Los Angeles.
Photo: Thiago B Trevisan | Shutterstock
The proverbial writing for the remaining A380s in Korean Air’s fleet is on the wall. In 2021, Korean Air’s chief executive told Flight Global that it would stop operating the expensive A380s in five years. It is believed the last will be taken out of service after Korean Air receives some of its 27 Airbus A350-1000 on order. These are expected to replace the A380s and take over the long-range flight routes.
“The A380s will be leaving Korean Air’s fleet within five years, and the Boeing 747-8I fleet will also follow suit within ten years,” – Korean Air chief executive
Walter Cho
Asiana also intends to divest of its six A380s. Surprisingly, these are new aircraft that the airline only received between 2014 and 2016. All six of Asiana’s fleet of A380s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. There can be no surer confirmation of the airlines following through on their plans to divest themselves of the airplaines than watching them being broken up.
Despite its impressive engineering feats, the Superjumbo faced numerous challenges.
In February 2019, Airbus announced production of its massive A380 would come to an end in 2021. The last of the giants rolled off the production line, and the production line was closed for good, with some 251 aircraft being produced. With the end of Boeing’s 747 Jumbo jet, the era of massive double-decker passenger aircraft came to an end (or at least their production). Now both the A380 and the 747’s are being progressively retired around the world.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
The first A380 to be retired and scrapped was Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 in 2019. It was broken up and recycled in Tarbes in France – Tarbes is one of the top aircraft recycling centers where aircraft go to die in Europe. Since then, more and more A380s have been retired and destroyed. Emirates retired its first A380s in 2020, and COVID-19 hastened the premature demise of many more. According to Flightradar24, by June 2022, 20 A380s had retired with many more in storage (from COVID) and others for sale or lying in wait.
Those who want to rescue an A380 and ensure no one breaks it up can do something about it. There is a secondhand Airbus A380 for sale for the princely sum of $25 million. While the exact aircraft for sale is ambiguous, it is known it was built in 2013 and has a total flight time of 30,620 hours with 3,690 landings.
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